Dear Friends, Here is the recent news I’ve received. Be safe. Warm best wishes, Dick
Al Davis posted this announcement of Facebook. Dick Alexander’s address is listed at 2006 Radiance Circle. Here it is on a map. The Fairfield Loop Trail is the dashed green line behind his back yard. A mutual friend told me Dick saw the mountain lion last weekend during evening program, and that it was following a couple who were unaware of it on the Trail. This same above mutual friend later emailed me: I just spoke to someone else who saw a mtn lion within a couple of hundred yards of the same place about a week earlier. This friend also told me the above person saw it from the north end of the Men’s Dome parking area, and it was running next the woods (which I believe are between Utopia Hall and the MUM Swimming Pool). Another friend emailed me: They usually hunt dawn and dusk, which is the least safe time . . . Another friend emailed me: Thanks for the "heads up.” … Children should be close to adults - not walking out in front. Pumas generally run from an adult... or so I have heard. Is it a Mountain Lion or a Bobcat? Another friend emailed me: … Are you quite sure it was a mountain lion and not a bobcat? Linda and Doug Birx snapped a photo of a bobcat in their MUM garden about two weeks ago. I believe mountain lions would be hard to mistake for bobcats because mountain lions weigh about 7 times as much as bobcats. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar#Characteristics <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar#Characteristics> The cougar (Puma concolor) [is] also commonly known by other names including mountain lion, panther, puma,[4] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar#cite_note-San_Diego_Zoo_MountainLion-4> and catamount. Cougars are slender and agile members of the Felidae <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felidae>. They are the fourth-largest cat species worldwide;[46] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar#cite_note-46>adults stand about 60 to 90 cm (24 to 35 in) tall at the shoulders.[47] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar#cite_note-47> Adult males are around 2.4 m (7.9 ft) long from nose to tail tip, and females average 2.05 m (6.7 ft), with overall ranges between 1.50 to 2.75 m (4..9 to 9.0 ft) nose to tail suggested for the species in general. Males generally weigh 53 to 100 kg (117 to 220 lb), averaging 68 kg (150 lb). Females typically weigh between 29 and 64 kg (64 and 141 lb), averaging 55 kg (121 lb). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat#Physical_characteristics <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat#Physical_characteristics> The adult bobcat is 47.5 to 125 cm (18.7 to 49.2 in) long from the head to the base of its distinctive stubby tail, averaging 82.7 cm (32.6 in); the tail, which appears “bobbed” and gives the species its name, adds 9 to 20 cm (3.5 to 7.9 in). An adult stands about 30 to 60 cm (12 to 24 in) at the shoulders. Adult males can range in weight from 6.4 to 18.3 kg (14 to 40 lb), with an average of 9.6 kg (21 lb); females at 4 to 15.3 kg (8.8 to 33.7 lb), with an average of 6.8 kg (15 lb). And here’s Ken Chandler’s email about his and two others’ sighting inside our condos’ vastu fence just last night: Well guess what. I was standing in front of our condo talking with Harvey [Diamond]. I was telling him about the spotting of the mountain lion, and he was a bit incredulous. I went towards my room, and seconds later, Harvey said, there he is. I came just outside the stairwell into the front yard, and there was an animal, larger than a cat, and longer. Harvey and I could hardly believe our eyes. I followed him as he went around the north side of the condo and turned and went south inside the vastu fence. I called to Denyse to come out and see the mountain lion, and she did not believe me at first, but she came outside. As she came out into the front yard, we looked to the south, and saw a rabbit running like crazy and out through the front fence. Then we saw the animal come around the southeast corner of the condo and he stood looking at us for a while. Denyse noticed that he had no long tail like a mountain lion, so she has concluded that he is a bobcat. He walks more like a canine than a cat, with some of the grace of a cat. However, he has no spots like bobcats, so I think he could be a mountain lion with a bob tail. We all three got a good look at him. No long tail, no spots, so he was probably a young bobcat. But could be a mountain lion. We looked on the internet, and saw that bobcats are making a big comeback in Iowa. So there you have it. Our desire to see the secretive bobcat fulfilled. Ken
